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Critical Dissonance: Difference between revisions
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[[Critical Dissonance]] is polar opposition of public to critical opinion. For instance there's a music album the critics love, but the general public doesn't share their high praise for said album, or vice versa where the critics hate it but the general public loves it.
Critics may look down on a [[
Sometimes later opinions can match, and then we have [[Vindicated By History]], but not always.
Some media are less affected by this than others. In general, this trope has historically been uncommon with video games, partly due to the [[Reviews Are the Gospel|far greater reliance on reviews]] among gamers, and partly because the technical side (gameplay, graphics, etc.) tends to carry more weight with games than with books or TV -- and good gameplay is much more black-and-white than a good story, writing, or acting. When [[Critical Dissonance]] does occur with games, it is more often than not because gamers thought that the critics had been overly kind (like the [[Four Point Scale]]), had arguably been [[Money, Dear Boy|paid upfront by the publishers as part of an advertising and/or first look article special]], or in a worst case scenario, that the critics in question [[Small Reference Pools|lack a proper reference frame]]. The latter may apply to critics of other media though.
See also [[Critical Backlash]], [[Critic Proof]], [[Bias Steamroller]], [[
{{examples
== Art ==
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* The Wesley Snipes crime drama ''Sugar Hill'' (not to be confused with the blaxploitation/zombie film of the same name) is considered an urban cult classic. Critics were less enthused by the film, although lone critic [[Roger Ebert]] said it was one of the best films of 1994.
* ''[[The Notebook]]'' has considerable praise by the general public, but major reaction from critics was mixed. A good example of this is the IMDB rating (7.9 out of 10) compared to the [[Rotten Tomatoes]] rating (52%).
* Movie critics in general tend to be biased against [[Sci Fi Ghetto|genre films]] (horror, fantasy, sci-fi). Of particular note in horror are the ''[[Friday the
** There are exceptions to this, but the genres have to be toned down. For instance, critics are a little bit more accepting of [[Low Fantasy]] to [[High Fantasy]], Psychological/Supernatural Thrillers to pure Horror, and [[Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness|Hard Sci-fi to Pulp Sci-Fi]]. To be fair, this also goes for the viewing public as well. Exemplified by ''The Last Exorcism'' below.
* Summer blockbusters likewise tend to fare much better with the audience than the critics; one of the modern [[Trope Codifier|Trope Codifiers]] was ''[[Independence Day]]'', and the ''[[Transformers (Film)|Transformers]]'' film series has continued the tradition. Much like horror films, the dissonance here arises from professional critics approaching the movies on a much different level, and with entirely different expectations, than the intended audience.
* Critics generally liked ''[[Slither]]''. The public? Not so much.
* The live-action ''[[
* Both 2000s ''[[Fantastic Four (Film)|Fantastic Four]]'' movies were disliked by the critics in general, but both were box office hits.
* All four live-action ''[[Resident Evil (Film)|Resident Evil]]'' movies got negative reviews, but they were successful at the box office.
* ''[[The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford]]'' was a ''massive'' critical success and made nearly every Film of the Year list of that year, topping several, and was particularly praised for its lead perfomances, music and cinematography. It flopped and made a measly $15m, about half of its budget, and only received nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Cinematography, winning neither. It very likely failed due to its somewhat slow pace and running time (the titular event occurs about two hours into the movie, [[Ending Fatigue|but the movie continues for another half hour]]), and possibly due to its [[Deconstruction]] of popular [[Hollywood History]] by portraying ([[Shown Their Work|accurately]]) the title [[Anti
* All of the films of [[Friedberg and Seltzer]] were panned by professional critics and Internet reviewers alike, but (apart from ''Disaster Movie'') they all made enough money to be profitable given their low budgets.
* ''[[Gothika]]'' made back more than triple its $40m budget despite being critically reviled.
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* Same could be said for the film ''Runaways''.
* ''[[The Hurt Locker]]'' was said to be a realistic war movie by the critics, but not so much by the audience. Indeed, most former and current military personnel that have seen it, especially Iraq vets, complain of lack of realism and thought that the director was trying to mock them. It also attracted near universal critic acclaim, but became the lowest grossing Best Picture [[Academy Award]] winner of all time. Meanwhile, some moviegoers have argued that [[Award Snub|the award should have belonged to]] ''[[Avatar (Film)|Avatar]]'' or ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]''.
* ''[[The Hangover]] Part II''. Critics bashed it (for among other things, [[
* ''[[Cars]] 2'' was not well-received by critics (38% on Rotten Tomatoes) but audiences are flocking to it like they did with the first.
* [[Johnny Depp]]'s 2000s and 2010s films at Disney -- the ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' sequels and ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' -- have been pilloried by critics, complete with cries of despair that he's squandering his gifts by sticking with such [[Large Ham]], [[Spectacle]]-driven fare instead of the more challenging roles he built his artistic reputation on. Nevertheless, audiences flock to them (the third and fourth ''Pirates'' films and ''Alice'' have all pulled down grosses of over a billion dollars '''each''' worldwide).
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* ''[[Act of Valor]]'' was poorly received by the critics (29% on Rotten Tomatoes) but the audience as a whole tend to love it (84% on the same website).
* Orson Welles' most famous movie, ''[[Citizen Kane (Film)|Citizen Kane]]'', was received with critical acclaim and box office indifference.
* ''[[The Life of David Gale]]'' earned a lot of hatred from critics and failed at the box office, but users on [[
* ''[[Punch Drunk Love]]'' ended up being Adam Sandler's most critically acclaimed movie, but also his least financially successful one.
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* The fifth season episode of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', "The Rough Patch", exemplifies this on a single-episode scale. It was the culmination of the writer's attempts to break up Robin and Barney throughout the entire season after the entire fourth season had been spent getting them together. The episode was highly rated by critics for the exaggeration by Future!Ted's narration in the form of Barney's fat suit and Robin's haggard appearance. This had the effect of undoing over a season's worth of [[Character Development]] for Barney and broke up what is the [[Fan Preferred Couple]] for a large portion of the fanbase because the writer's wanted to prove that the relationship wouldn't work, despite the chemistry the two actors displayed.
* The comedy ''[[Mrs. Browns Boys (TV)|Mrs. Browns Boys]]'' has been slated by critics, who hate its bawdy humour, yet is very popular with the viewing public.
* ''I'll Fly Away'' was a MASSIVE critical darling but had terrible ratings. Most seem to blame it on the setting. [[Audience
** After the program's cancellation, a two hour movie, I'll Fly Away: Then and Now, was produced, in order to resolve dangling storylines from Season 2, and provide the series with a true finale. The movie aired on October 11, 1993 on PBS.
* ''[[The Wire]]'' was hugely acclaim, but hardly anybody watched it. Plus it was generally [[Award Snub|snubbed]]. Some blamed this on the fact the cast was mostly black.
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** [[Kate Bush (Music)|Kate Bush]]'s 1982 album ''The Dreaming'' suffered this too.
* For both [[Led Zeppelin (Music)|Led Zeppelin]] and [[Black Sabbath (Music)|Black Sabbath]], their first few albums were critically panned originally (though in both cases most critics retroactively praised their early stuff).
** May be true of many of the acts made popular in the 1970s. The albums and concerts of [[Queen (Music)|Queen]], [[Journey (Music)|Journey]], [[Paul McCartney (Music)|Paul McCartney]] and [[Wings (Music)|Wings]], [[Elton John (Music)|Elton John]] (at least after he wore outrageous costumes), and a lot of the arena rock and [[Progressive Rock]] supergroups had poor (or grudgingly favorable) reviews, but sold millions. May have connections to [[
* King's X are regularly named as one of the best rock groups of the 90s and have a very strong fanbase of seemingly just a few hundred people.
* [[Marvin Gaye (Music)|Marvin Gaye]]'s ''Here, My Dear'' album. It later became [[Vindicated By History]]
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** Weirdly, before ''Elephunk'', their situation was actually ''reversed''. For their first two albums, they were known as a critically acclaimed [[Alternative Hip Hop]] trio that sold very few albums. Then came Fergie...Which brought [[Unfortunate Implications]].
** Nonetheless, the [[Hype Backlash]] from their terrible Super Bowl performance effectively destroyed their popularity and ended their career; In a period of six months, they went from being one of the biggest bands in America to having to fight off rumors that they are breaking up.
* [[Liz Phair (Music)|Liz Phair]]'s [[Self
* Indie rock band Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians' first two albums were extensively praised by critics. Nonetheless, they never became more than a one-hit wonder with their 1988 single "What I Am".
** A couple years after they faded into obscurity, frontwoman Brickell married Paul Simon.
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* Many Canadian acts, largely due to record companies [[Executive Meddling|mishandling or poorly marketing]] critically-acclaimed groups or artists:
** If you were to judge The Rheostatics (a now-defunct Canadian rock group) solely by the opinions you find of them online, you would think they're one of the most important Canadian bands of the past century, and more critically acclaimed than even most current Canadian artists (to the point that two of their albums, ''Melville'' and ''Whale Music'', are consistently ranked as one of the top ten Canadian albums '''of all time'''). In actuality, they only one minor hit ("Claire" in 1994) and never sold that many records commercially, even at their peak in the 90s.
** Poor, poor Fefe Dobson. All of her albums have been critically acclaimed, but each one has tanked. One critic from NOW magazine blamed this on the fact that the industry didn't know how to market a black rocker chick from [[Canada, Eh?|Scarborough, Ontario]].
** Esthero was an indie queen who received tons of critical accolades for her three studio albums, as well as her collaborations with various artists (including [[Black Eyed Peas (Music)|Will.i.am]] on the "Yes We Can" track from 2008 and co-writing songs for [[Kanye West (Music)|Kanye West]]'s ''808's and Heartbreak'' and Timbaland's ''Shock Value II''), but all her solo work has failed to generate sales, and she's still mostly unknown in Canada and the States.
* Cher Lloyd's debut single, ''Swagger Jagger''. Nobody's quite sure what it means, the song was critically panned, but shot straight to number one upon release.
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** On the other hand, ''[[Silent Hill Downpour]]'' clocks in with a pathetic 4.5 out of 10 on IGN, with other sites giving it slightly better, but still poor reviews. Fans, on the other hand, are contending whether it is better than ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'', which previously held the indesputed title of best game in the series.
*** Other reviewers, like GameSpot, were kinder, and gave it a simliar score to 2.
* In terms of the main series, ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' got this. Critics gave them "average" scores by the series standards for being [[
* ''[[Home Front]]'' got a fairly middling reception from critics, due to a combination of [[
* ''[[Legend of Dragoon|The Legend of Dragoon]]'' received mediocre scores across the board. Players, on the other hand loved the game.
* ''[[Earthbound]]'' may never see re-release because of this. Criticism from test audiences and the brilliant marketing slogan of "This Game Stinks" made it quite a hated game by critics. After a brief bit of [[Vindicated By History]], it is now regarded as one of the best comedy games of all time, as well as an above-average RPG.
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* Similarity, the 2010 ''[[Splatterhouse]]'' remake was mostly panned by critics whose complaints ranged from [[Camera Screw|a wonky camera]] and an overreliance on gore. Player feedback, however, was generally much more positive.
* ''[[Nie R]]'': Panned by critics for subpar graphics and too many fetch quests, loved by users for the deep, engaging story and killer soundtrack.
* ''[[Gotcha Force]]'': Critics were mixed about this game, but mostly had lower reviews for it. On the other hand, its score is a solid 2.1 points higher among users on [http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/action/gotchaforce/review.html GameSpot]. It's still got something of a cult following, due to the insane level of [[Replay Value|replay value]], [[So Bad
* ''[[Kirby|Kirby's Air Ride]]'' has a similar situation as Gotcha Force with the mixed critics with a lot of critics panned for the one button mechanics and the lack of depth while it's receiving much higher user score due to the major multi-player focus and City Trial.
* ''[[Dragon Age II]]'': Most critics liked it very much for its good graphics, interesting characters, and [[Grey and Grey Morality]], but a lot of fans hated it for [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|diverging from the gameplay structure found in the original game,]] as well as the more subtle but still significantly reduced emphasis of the effect your choices have on the world. It had a [[Darker and Edgier|gritty feel]] similar to that of the first game, only instead of being able to [[Earn Your Happy Ending|improve the country of Ferelden]] in one or two very meaningful ways (that the player chooses), [[Player Punch|everything]] you do in [[Wretched Hive|Kirkwall]] makes things [[It Got Worse|worse]], and players complained about the [[Shaggy Dog Story|ending]]. This is a rather dramatic example of critical dissonance - Metacritic shows the average critical review to be an 82%, and the average player review to be 42%.
* An even ''more'' dramatic example is ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]'', with the average player review on Metacritic being 22% and the average critic review being 95%. This can be traced to the (to many) unsatisfactory endings, a possible raid by 4chan's /v/, as well as hate for ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' that seeped into hate for ME3. Also worth noting is that the PC version, which requires use of EA's extremely unpopular Origin service and caused some people installation problems, has a much lower player review score than the console versions. Many people were up in arms about the day one DLC, as well as homosexual romance options.
* The biggest and ''most'' dramatic example? Not from a [[Bio Ware]] game but from a Blizzard game, the much-anticipated ''[[Diablo III]]'' to be exact. The average critic review is 87%, Playbase review? 35%. Through this is due to server problems from overloading, the conversial Auction Houses, the fact that you can only play online, severe lag spikes as well as many [[Game Breaking]] and server-crashing bugs that came with launch. Luckily most of these bugs were fixed in the first few days, but it was too little, too late in the eyes of many games.
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== Web Originals ==
* [[The Cinema Snob (Web Video)|The Cinema Snob]] is made as a response to this trope. Brad Jones created his snob-persona to [[MST]] [[Exploitation Film|Exploitation Films]] because he felt it was weird that film critics panned those films for lacking qualities they weren't supposed to have.
* [[Moviebob]] addressed this trope in [[Films Discussed By Moviebob|his reviews]] of ''The Eagle'' and ''[[Knight and Day]]''. He feels that the reason for the disconnect between critics and the "average" moviegoer is because critics see hundreds of movies per year and have learned how to spot every trope and plot twist from a mile away, making them much more receptive to original, offbeat movies that go against their expectations. Meanwhile, people who don't see more than one movie a week (i.e. most non-critics) can better appreciate films that are [[
* A good percent of the stuff reviewed on [[The Bad Webcomics Wiki]] is this.
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